AT&T’s upcoming HBO Max video-streaming service, announced in July, will be priced at $15 per month, the same price as HBO NOW, and launch in May of next year.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, via MacRumors, HBO Max will have way more content than the existing HBO NOW service because it will also carry TV shows and films from third-party providers like CNN, TNT, TBS, The CW, TCM, Adult Swim and others.
HBO Max will be filled with 10,000 hours of programming from across the media conglomerate’s divisions including such TV hits as ‘Friends’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘South Park’; Warner Bros. films including ‘Joker’; the full HBO catalog; and originals such as the previously announced Ansel Elgort drama ‘Tokyo Vice’, a ‘Grease’ spinoff and a ‘Gossip Girl’ sequel.
It will also include “House of the Dragon” (a “Game of Thrones” spin-off) and classic shows such as “Succession”, “The Sopranos” and many others.
WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey repeating what he told me in our interview: AT&T will share HBO Max user data with distributors to help sweeten deals.
— Helen Coster (@hcoster) October 30, 2019
AT&T will offer HBO Max for free to its 10 million HBO customers, it previously said. The carrier hopes to hit 50 million subscribers in the United States by 2025. As previously reported, HBO Max will be a subscription-only play in its first year, with ad-supported tiers coming in 2021.
It will arrive to a crowded market, with incumbents like Netflix and others being challenged by newcomers such as Apple’s own Apple TV+ video service, which launches November 1 at $5 per month after a free one-month trial, and the likes of Disney, whose own $7 per month streaming thingy is set to launch globally on November 12.
But if you ask me, the biggest competitor to HBO Max will be HBO NOW.
The HBO chief has already clashed with the AT&T leadership as the carrier, which two years ago acquired HBO owner Time Warner, ordered many new shows for the upcoming service. At any rate, the carrier is going to need to persuade existing HBO NOW subscribers to consider another HBO-branded service
The fact that both services are priced the same $15 per month isn’t helping either because HBO NOW basically includes everything HBO offers while HBO Max will include the full HBO catalog along with new and exclusive shows and content from across the media conglomerate’s many divisions.
Confused yet?